Overview

After installing ProcessMaker, it may be necessary to modify the configuration of Apache, PHP and MySQL for certain situations which are listed on this page.

Configuring Apache

To configure Apache edit its httpd.conf file (or apache2.conf and ports.conf files if using Debian/Ubuntu). The other file to modify is the pmos.conf file which holds the VirtualHost definition for ProcessMaker. The location of these two files depends upon the operating system:

Compression to improve ProcessMaker performance

ProcessMaker performance can be improved by using ZIP compression when uploading/downloading pages. Compression should be supported by all modern web browsers. The compression uses Apache's deflate module, which should have been enabled when ProcessMaker was installed.

Note:The deflate module is enabled if the Apache configuration file httpd.conf contains a line like:

LoadModule deflate_module modules/mod_deflate.so

In Debian/Ubuntu/Mint, the deflate module can be enabled in Apache with the following command (issued as root or using sudo):

a2enmod deflate

After adding the deflate module, restart apache.

To enable ZIP compression, edit the pmos.conf file. Add the following lines in the VirtualHost definition:

Configuring ProcessMaker to use SSL/TLS

If your organization needs greater security to protect sensitive data being passed between web clients and the ProcessMaker server, it may be a good idea to set up a SSL or TLS connection which can be accessed through the https protocol (rather than the standard http protocol).

Follow the steps in the following tutorials to set up an SSL-secured web server in Red Hat/CentOS, Debian/Ubuntu and Windows. After creating the certificates that will be used by the ProcessMaker server, then configure ProcessMaker to use https in Apache.

Edit the file /etc/apache2/sites-available/pmos.conf and add the following lines in bold:

Then restart the Apache web server
so the altered configuration will take effect. Now it possible to use ProcessMaker over SSL.
Login to ProcessMaker by using the https protocol:

https://<IP-ADDRESS>

Configuring PHP

To change the configuration of PHP, edit its php.ini file with a plain text editor (such as Notepad in Windows and vim or nano in Linux/UNIX). The location of the php.ini file depends on your operating system:

Red Hat/CentOS/Fedora:

/etc/php.ini

Debian/Ubuntu/Mint/SuSE/openSUSE:

/etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

In Debian/Ubuntu systems with multiple web servers:

/etc/php5/cgi/php.ini

FreeBSD:

/usr/local/etc/php.ini

Windows XP/Server 2000/2003:

C:\Program Files\ProcessMaker-X_X_X\php\php.ini

Windows Vista and later:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\ProcessMaker-X_X_X\php\php.ini

After changing a setting in the php.ini file, restart Apache for the new PHP configuration to go into effect.

Checking the PHP modules

To check whether all the required PHP modules are installed, enter the following command in a terminal:

Linux/UNIX:

php -m

Windows:

Navigate to where PHP is installed. For example:

cd c:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\ProcessMaker-X_X_X\php

Then, issue the command:

php -m

If an error message about a missing MSVCR100.dll file appears when executing the command:

ProcessMaker interface to check PHP modules

To check whether all the required PHP modules are loaded from inside ProcessMaker version 2.5.0 and later, log in as a user such as "admin" who has the PM_SETUPADVANCE permission in his/her role. Then go to ADMIN > Settings > PHP Information and check whether all the required modules are listed.

Uploading large Input Documents

If planning on uploading large Input Documents while running processes, the post_max_size and upload_max_filesize should be increased to more than the default 2MB. For instance, if planning on uploading files as large as 24MB, then:

Nonetheless, it is also recommended to set the same time zone in the date.timezone setting in the php.ini file. See this list of available time zones. For example to set PHP to use Eastern Standard Time in the US, set date.timezone to "America/New_York":

date.timezone = "America/New_York"

In the US, use these time zones:

US standard time zone

PHP time zone

Eastern

America/New_York

Central

America/Chicago

Mountain

America/Denver

Mountain no DST

America/Phoenix

Pacific

America/Los_Angeles

Alaska

America/Anchorage

Hawaii

America/Adak

Hawaii no DST

Pacific/Honolulu

After changing the time zone, restart Apache for the changes to take effect.

Managing Login Sessions in ProcessMaker

By default, ProcessMaker logs out a user after 24 minutes of inactivity. This time can be changed by setting the value of session.gc_maxlifetime in php.ini.

More rows in an Output Document

In PHP 5.3.9 and later, the max_input_vars setting limits the maximum number of posted variables. By default, max_input_vars is set to 1000, which will generate approximately 300 rows in a grid in an Output Document. If this value is too small, then grids in Output Documents may be truncated.

To generate more rows, increase this setting in the php.ini configuration file:

Importing large processes

PHP Accelerators

Installing an opcode cache manager, such as Zend, Alternative PHP Cache (APC), XCache, eAccelerator or ionCube EncoderZend, can double the speed of ProcessMaker and decrease the load on your server's CPU. Of the available PHP accelerators, ProcessMaker recommends APC, because it is maintained by PHP developers, but APC, Xcache and eAccelerator all have good performance.

Make sure to restart Apache after installing an opcode cache manager and only use one opcode cache manager at a time.

Verification of files using the fileinfo extension

Version 2.8.0 and later uses the fileinfo extension in PHP to verify the extension of uploaded files and ensure that the file extension matches the contents of the file. The fileinfo extension is included by default in PHP 5.3.0 and later, but it may need to be enabled. Use the php -m in the command line or go to ADMIN > Settings > System Information in ProcessMaker to check whether the fileinfo extension is enabled.

Windows:

Enable the fileinfo extension by editing the php.ini file with a plain text editor and adding or uncommenting the following line:

Increasing the thread stack size

According to the Mysql manual, the default thread stack is 128K, which sometimes is not enough to execute long queries, e.g., long joins. If the thread stack is too small, the following Thread stack overrun (MySQL ERROR 1436) may occur:

ERROR 1436 (HY000) at line 5992: Thread stack overrun: 8384 bytes used of a 131072 byte stack,
and 128000 bytes needed. Use 'mysqld -O thread_stack=#' to specify a bigger stack.

If this problem is encountered, edit the MySql configuration file my.cnf and increase the size of the thread_stack setting in the following line:

Changing the database location, MySQL user or password

It is necessary to update the encrypted information in the paths_installed.php file after:

changing the location of the ProcessMaker databases,

changing the MySQL user with superglobal privileges to create databases for new workspaces (which is usually the "root" user), or

changing the password of that MySQL user.

First make the changes in MySQL, then update the information in ProcessMaker. See: Changing the MySQL.

Checking the ProcessMaker Requirements

Inside the ADMIN tab, an option to check the ProcessMaker requirements was added in versions 2.5 and later. This option checks whether all the requirements are correctly installed and lists which versions are installed.

Login to ProcessMaker as a user with the PROCESSMAKER_ADMIN role. Then go to ADMIN > Settings > Check PM Requirements:

After installing any missing requirements, click on the Check again button to verify whether everything is properly installed.